Hempstead Hoofprints-March
Congrats to Emma Fassbinder
Emma Fassbinder has always had a love for reading and writing. A gold and silver key winner for writing from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Emma typically has several journals with a variety of stories in the works. When she is not reading or writing, she can be found playing flute in band and symphony, tenor saxophone in jazz band, or performing on piano. She currently lives in Iowa with her parents, little sister Anna, and cats Pinney and Peaches.
Emma is 15 years old and a freshman at Hempstead High School in Dubuque. At the time of the "Journey to the Nucleolus" book, she was a 7th grader at Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School. Her science teacher Ms. Bahl assigned to each student the choice of a project to show their understanding of an animal cell. Rather than do a poster or powerpoint, Emma inquired about writing a short story. Journey to the Nucleolus follows Lillian as she goes on an adventure with her beloved cat Peaches, and finds out first-hand, the inner workings of an animal cell.
The "Journey to the Diabetic Dilemma" was written when she was in 8th grade, also at Roosevelt. Being familiar with Emma's first story, science teacher Mr. Knutson asked Emma to consider writing another short story, this time on her assigned subject of the development of insulin. Emma jumped at the opportunity. Journey to the Diabetic Dilemma is the story of Maci, a 14 year old girl with Diabetes, as she experiences accidental time travel learning the inspiration and history behind the development of insulin.
Both books are around 50 pages each, with text and large graphic pages that tell the story with words and visuals. Throughout both books, key terms are bolded for reference in the glossary that contains definitions – serving an additional educational and learning opportunity.
Continuing with the subject of science or history, and the connection with pets, Emma is currently working on a third book in the series: Journey to the Magnificent Moon.
Parent-Teacher Conference
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
March 13 9:00 AM - 2:45 PM (by appointment only)
No school on March 13 and 14
spring break
Health Corner: March
Did you know?: On average, children spend nearly 4 hours a day watching TV, DVDs, and prerecorded shows, just over an over on the computer and about 50 minutes playing video games.
Children should be physically active at least 60 minutes a day. Reducing screen time and increasing physical activity can improve health status and maintain a healthy weight.
Some ideas to help get children away from the screen:
· Turn off Saturday morning cartoons and take your child for a walk.
· Make a family agreement to limit TV/DVD/video watching or gaming to 2 hours (or less) a day.
· Play with a ball instead of a video game
· Take the TV out of your child’s bedroom
· If you do watch TV, stretch, do yoga, or even lift weights at the same time
For more ideas, visit the National Institute of Health’s We Can website at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/tools-resources/tools-reduce-screen-time.htm#handbooks-resources
Bowling
Congratulations to the boys bowling team who finished runnerup at the 2014 state bowling meet in Des Moines on February 25th. The team consisted of Andrew Sanders ’14; Kevin Scheffert ’14; Justin Lanser ’17; Alex Kenniker ’14; Kody Klein ’14 and Cody Scheffert ‘ 16. In the individual event Kevin Scheffert finished 3rd, Andrew Sanders finished 9th, Justin Lanser finished 12th, Alex Kenniker finished 18th, Kody Klein finished 23rd and Cody Scheffert finished 24th.
Swimming
Congratulations to the boys swim team who finished 4th at the state swim meet in Des Moines on February 15th. This is the best finished ever for a Hempstead boys swim team at the state meet.
Coach Rick Loeffelholz, Assistants Bob Wren, Tom Henders, Joe Gracylany and Janet Warren were named state coaching staff of the year at the state meet.
Results:
Team – 4th with 111 points (highest finish ever)
200 Yard Medley Relasy – Charlie Warren, Sean Johnson, Alec Rutkowski, Nate Hermann – 4th
200 Freestyle – Chris Duehr – 4th
200 Yard Individual Medley – Charlie Warren - 6th
50 Freestyle – Alec Rutkowski - 6th
100 Freestyle – Alec Rutkowski - 4th
100 Freestyle – Nate Hermann – 11th
500 Freestyle – Chris Duehr – 5th
200 Freestyle Relay – Nate Hermann, Sean Johnson, Brock Hefel, Chris Duehr – 12th
100 Yard Backstroke – Charlie Warren – 4th
100 Breaststroke – Sean Johnson – 20th
400 Freestyle Relay – Chris Duehr, Alec Rutkowski, Nate Hermann, Charlie Warren – 3rd
Charlie Warren – 2015
Sean Johnson – 2016
Alec Rutkowski – 2014
Nate Hermann – 2016 (Wahlert student)
Chris Duehr – 2017
Brock Hefel - 2014
Wrestling
Congratulations to wrestling state qualifiers Gannon Gremmel ’16; Rees Hauder ’15 and Brandon Haas ’16. Gannon finished 5th at the state wrestling meet February 22nd.
COLLEGE LETTER OF INTENT SIGNING FOR CLASS OF 2014
Hope Koerperich – UNI for softball
Haley Van Cleave – Bradley University for basketball
Morgan Paca – UNI for football
Jacob Harrison – Iowa Central Community College for football
Nolan Cook – Ellsworth Community College for football
Chris Francis – Iowa Western Community College for football
Allison Bitter – UNI for soccer
Heather Splinter – Youngstown State for volleyball
Alec Rutkowski – University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for swimming
Girl Scout Gold Award
Congratulations to Alyssa Mendenhall who has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. She earned this award by turning a green space behind Hempstead into a garden oasis.
Hempstead Science Bowl
Congratulations to the Hempstead Science Bowl team! They finished 4th in the state and outscored their opponents by 500 points. Members were Jiwei Sun, Rachel Bruflodt, Alyssa Mendenhall and Robert Zartman.
"We Care"
Mrs. Rodrigues was overwhelmed when her 6th period Algebra 2 class came in wearing pink tee-shirts, bringing her homemade lemon cookies and a signed plaque titled "We Care". Mrs. Rodrigues has been battling breast cancer for 17 years. She has gone through multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. On Christmas Eve she was told the cancer was back. She had surgery on January 24th and was back in the classroom that Wednesday with her drain and stitches because she did not want her students to be lost in math. She will begin radiation in a week and go through 33 treatments.
Kyle Townsend came up with the idea and approached Mrs. Rodrigues' student teacher Bridget Klein. Together the class came up with the surprise. The card they gave her said it all. Fighter Fierce Fantastic
Way to go Mustangs!!!
American Mathematics Contest
On Wednesday, Feb. 19th, 86 of our students participated in the American Mathematics Contest. On the junior-senior level exam, the top 3 students in the school were Jiwei Sun, Drew Roen, and Jeffrey Teng. On the freshman-sophomore level exam, the top 3 students were Chase Johnson, Connor Duax, and Matt Engelken. One student, Jiwei Sun, has scored high enough to qualify for the next round on March 13th. Congratulations to everyone who participated, and good luck to Jiwei!
Hempstead Orchestra....
Congratulations to three Hempstead orchestra students who will proudly represent our school on March 8 in Cedar Rapids.
Freshmen Caroline Hendron, Grace Manternach, and Noah Sabers have been honored by selection for the 24th annual Kennedy Honors Orchestra. Grace and Noah will be performing in the Gold Orchestra and Caroline in the Chamber Orchestra. The students will rehearse throughout the day and present a concert in the Kennedy auditorium at 6:00 p.m.